WFP Expands Assistance To South Sudanese, Condemns Looting Of Supplies

Summary Text:

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a new emergency operation to expand assistance to people affected by the crisis in South Sudan and is working to overcome challenges preventing urgently needed relief from reaching those who need it.

The conflict in South Sudan has disrupted the livelihoods of millions of people and has had a negative impact on food security in the world’s newest country.
Market disruptions due to the conflict, population displacement and a rise in prices of local food has all increased the level of food insecurity in the country.

WFP and its partners have been working for months to provide food assistance to people who are most in need. WFP has reached 2.5 million people in South Sudan so far in 2014. The massive humanitarian effort helped to avert a hunger catastrophe in the country. However, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis, known as IPC, estimates that 2.5 million people would struggle to provide food for themselves in the start of the new year 2015 without a sustatined humanitarian assistance.

The focus at the moment is on providing urgent food assistance to those displaced or affected by the violence. However, WFP are continuing with resilience activities in relatively stable areas where we have access, stocks and security. This includes programme such as food/cash for assets, Purchase for Progress (P4P), and food for education (school meals and girls’ take home ration).

Even before the breakout of the current crisis South Sudan was affected by poor macro-economic performance, showing declining per capita GDP, shortage of foreign reserves, deflation and a high spread between official and informal exchange rates.

Threats to Food Security:

Ongoing conflict

Extremely low level of basic infrastructures

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South Sudan on Exposure

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Since fighting started in South Sudan in mid-December 2013, two million people have been forced from their homes, the farming and trade economies have been damaged, and people’s lives devastated. Over 539,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

This visual narrative takes you into the Algaya Refugee Camp, one of four refugee camps in Sudan’s White Nile state, where almost 11,000 South Sudanese refugees stay.

Country Code:

249

Latitude:

4.85

Longitude:

31.6

ISO31661_Char2Code:

SS

ISO31661_Char3Code:

SSD

ISO31661_NumberCode:

728

Crisis

Crisis Active:

Active Crisis

Crisis Title:

Emergency in South Sudan

Crisis Info:

Fighting in South Sudan has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes to seek shelter. WFP is on the ground distributing food to civilians in need.